Sales managers, ugh.
 

There are a lot of negative buying experiences posted here. Most of them seem to be about the sales manager.

I've bought 4 vehicles in the last 3 years and I have been to dozens of dealers looking. I have always liked my salesman but I've yet to meet a Sales Manager who didn't make me want to wash my hands and count my fingers after shaking their hands.

I'm sure they are hired for their ability to maximize profit no matter what, people skills be damned. And to be fair, they are the ones who have to defend the departments bottom line to the owner every month. But they are such sleazeballs, they seemed to ruin a lot of peoples purchases.

What say you? Car salespeople are welcome to chime in. Please.

sales managers
 

I have been lucky dealing with the same sales manager since 2005. The Pontiac dealership closed up where he was at so I tagged him to his new dealership and purchased my camaro through him. I have made friends at the new dealership the last 3 years so it's kind of cool. If he ever quit I would probably buy thru Rodgers Chevy.;) I had lots of bad experiences thru dealerships and so far only two have pleased me 100 percent:D

I can always tell when people are being genuinely nice or fake nice. I find it hard to believe that every salesperson is 100% stoked and excited to GET YOU INTO THAT CAR YOU WANT. Sometimes the fake nice just get annoying after a while.

I went to one dealership to inquire about ordering a '13 1LE. I already had the car priced and knew the invoice price etc. The salesman insisted they had to stick to MSRP on the order, and while I was asking about pricing and how close to invoice price they could get, one of the managers came and told me (very rudely) that they only make $800 on one of these cars at MSRP (was $42,500 for the car I was ordering). When I presented him with the invoice price I had and was questioning whether maybe I had the wrong numbers somehow, he printed out a price sheet and pointed out the invoice vs MSRP on a standard SS with no options and said "I'm sorry I was wrong, it's only $700". He then proceeded to very rudely tell me that $700 wasn't a good profit on a $43,000 car. After that professional exchange the salesman started telling me about how the people that come in and try to get good deals on expensive cars (corvette ZR1) instead of just paying full price are dicks and they have the money so they should just pay it. He said he'd rather sell 10 cruizes to "good" people then 1 corvette etc to a "rich a**hole". The sales manager also told me I wouldn't be able to get a 1LE until next spring. I left that dealership, went 10 miles down the road and placed my order for my car. I got it for under MSRP and the car will be built mid December.

It's amazing to me how someone trying to sell you a $43,000 item can be so totally oblivious to customer service and general professionalism. And this from a dealership that is supposed to be one of the major sellers of corvettes and camaros on the area. :thumbdown:

That's pretty ridiculous, especially since even at invoice the dealer is making money still.

But it seems many dealers get into it for the business and forget how personal buying a car is, at least I think it should be. Just seems wrong to buy a car from a place and never return.

guess that the salesman has never stopped to consider why wealthy people have wealth, aside from the lottery winners and silver spoon babies, most truly wealthy people work hard for their wealth and don't "just buy it" at MSRP.

I have a long time friend who is truly wealthy, started with nothing 25 years ago, and I mean nothing, he was living in the back of a Beverage Warehouse Store on a cot..

Today he has an 8 figure income, owns 8 jewelry stores and has what I consider true wealth.

he drives a 10 year old car, has owned the same house for 18 years, and is putting 2 kids thru college, and his third will be starting next year.

This guy goes into Costco and Sam's Club and negotiates prices, doesn't always drive them down, but he seldom if ever pays "sticker" or retail for anything.

I watched him brow beat a Toyota dealer down from an MSRP of $22K on a 2010 Camry for his oldest daughter to $18,900 OTD. truly an amazing thing to watch.. No anger, no cursing, simple man to man negotiating tactics..

The managers are the actual snake. The salepersons are only trying to make ends meet after giving the managers their fat cut out of every sale.

Just walk out and find better. Takes more time but sometimes its worth it, sometimes not.

Oh how they love to break out the dealer invoice and piss and moan. The dealer invoice is a bullshit document too. Has nothing to do with the price they pay for the car or the profit they make on it. There are rebates and kickbacks and bonuses and other "incentives" that get paid back to the dealer.

nm

Invoice means nothing. It is only a guide. The dealer has many other incentives plus holdback which bring down his true cost of the car. I got my 2SS for $800 under invoive and the dealer still made more than $700. I forgot more about cars than most dealer sales managers will ever know,

I've read that the only two who really know how much the dealer paid for a new car is the dealership owner and God. As previously stated, invoice is only a guide.